GARY, Ind.— In the wake of one of the hottest summers in U.S. history, Gary, Ind., has joined 35 other cities in supporting the use of the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution to fight the risk of catastrophic climate change.

In passing a resolution Tuesday night, Gary became the 36th city to join the Center for Biological Diversity’s national Clean Air Cities campaign, which urges President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency to take action on global warming. Gary is the first city in Indiana to approve the resolution, which was introduced by councilmember Mary Brown.

“Gary’s leaders understand the threat of the global climate crisis and support one key solution: the Clean Air Act,” said Rose Braz, the Center’s climate campaign director. “Cities around the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago — and now Gary — are sending an urgent message to our national leaders. To avert a climate catastrophe, we have to act now.”

Climate change threatens Indiana with a growing risk of heat waves, flooding and dangerous storms, according to a report from the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. In cities like Gary, higher temperatures are expected to cause more heat-related deaths and an increase in ground-level ozone, which is linked to increased incidence of respiratory disease and death.

The Center’s Clean Air Cities campaign is working around the country to encourage cities to pass resolutions supporting the Clean Air Act and using the Act to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million, the level scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. The resolutions call on President Obama and the EPA to take swift action under the Clean Air Act to address climate change.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 375,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.